NTSC shut down in 2009

[Carmine]

So for the sake of the of a few movies we get a whole new format? That sounds kinda crazy.

I think one thing a lot of people are misled on or don't understand is the fact that the transition will only affect the people that are watching TV via an antenna ONLY.

I live in an urban area, and can pick-up a good signal on pretty much every channel, sometimes even without an antenna. Maybe I don't want to run cable to every place I might ever want to plop a TV! This is for the sake of a few people who care about seeing every last line of resolution on a crappy tv show?

BTW my leases on my rentals say: "Tenants with rent that remains unpaid shall not be permitted to attach any manner of television reception equipment to the landlord's property." It's better than turning the electricity turned off, and its legal! But I digeress...

Whatever the reason the government needs the signal for is their deal.

...and thus the "real" problem I have with it (the first is just PIA). I don't remember anyone marching on Washington to demand better quality TV signals. But I do know lobbyists went there to create a "deadline". Those aren't the "government" airwaves, they are for "the people". (lol)

There is no compelling need for wholesale conversion to digital TV. You (figurative) can watch super-sharp digital video of the rain forest all day for all I care, even on an OTA digital signal. My question is, why has the government said, after 2009, if you broadcast an analog TV signal, you're going to jail?

While there is no actual need to shutdown analog, However I see safety at risk when these digital signals drop in a natural/unnatural disaster. Right now, if somebody blows all the Detroit transmitters in Southfield, I can still get news/information from Toledo... Or Canada.. Or even Cleveland with my old Chromacolor II.

The reason is, nobody (figurative) cares about HDTV! Given free-market conditions, it would (has) bomb(ed). If both systems were to broadcast (as they do now) broadcasters would decide when it's no longer worth it to broadcast analog or digital. AM & FM co-exist, and AM has evolved into a "talk" format, or a low-cost way to broadcast music, because a FM signal sounds far better than AM. Why not let the same happen between analog and digital TV?

But our government, which loves to drone on about free-trade, global markets, and lassie-fair capitalism only follows those principles when the rich can skim a buck from it.

Again, don't take it personal... I'm just expressing a side that I don't often see voiced.